Never Alone
by AlexanderCastle
Summary: A week after she is shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral, Kate calls Rick and he comes out to her father's cabin where she is recovering. Slight spoilers for Knockout/Rise. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is AU, set shortly after the Season 3 finale. Beckett's been shot, she's broken up with Josh, Castle's told her he loves her, she told him she doesn't remember. Those things are still the same. However... She broke up with Josh before meeting with Castle that day (and Castle knows this), Mr Smith never asks Castle to keep her away from the case, and... well, you'll have to read it to find out. **

**For those incredible, extraordinary, frustrating, maddening, people, without whom this would never exist. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer - Hahahahahaha. No, I don't own them. I do in my dreams though.**

-Kate Beckett-

It's 9 in the morning by the time she finally plucks up the courage to pick up her cell-phone, and she hesitates for half a minute to wonder whether he'll even pick up, whether or not he'll be asleep at that time, but she still finds herself calling him anyway. "Hello?"

His voice is calm, with its usual undercurrent of warmth. Despite the pain, she can feel a slight smile grace her lips, and she somehow feels a little better. Before she can bring herself to stop, she whispers his name. "Castle…"

Her own voice is much shakier, filled with the pain she has tried to escape by leaving the city. Trying to escape the nightmares that disrupt her sleep and have haunted her relentlessly ever since Captain Montgomery's funeral. Trying to escape the nightmares where she watches her partner die right in front of her eyes. When her partner next speaks, his voice is far more concerned, and she knows that he has recognized her. "Kate? Is something wrong?"

She can barely keep the sob from her voice as she responds. "I've had nightmares, every night since I came out here. Bad ones, every single one of them. You end up dying. I can't lose you, Castle. You're far too important to me for that to happen. God knows what I'd do if I were to lose you, especially the way I feel about you…"

She knows that, right now, this is the best she can give him in telling him that she loves him too. She also hopes that he picks up on this and realizes that she remembers what he said to her before she blacked out that day at the funeral. His voice softens immediately. "Kate, where are you?"

"My father's cabin…"

"Just relax. I'll be there soon. I love you".

She can hear him talking to Alexis in the background just before he hangs up, probably telling her what's going on, and she can feel a small smile spreading across her face again. He really does love her.

**~A few hours later~**

She can hear the sound of his car pulling up in the driveway of the cabin where she is recovering, and she has to restrain herself from running out to greet him, hugging him as if she'll never let him go, and pressing her lips against his. _Why on earth did I think it would ever be possible for me to go three months without calling him?_ She asks herself. The sound of his car door opening and closing echoes in the quiet summer air, and his voice follows a couple of seconds later. "Kate?"

She looks up from where she's sitting on the swing chair on the cabin's porch, a smile spreading slightly across her face as her partner slowly makes his way towards her, laptop bag in one hand and another bag slung over his shoulder. "Hi".

She gets unsteadily to her feet to greet him, swaying slightly on the spot as he steps up onto the porch and over to her, wincing slightly in pain as he wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead gently. "Hi" he breathes back.

_If only we could just stay like this forever… If only time would just stop and I could remain here, always, content and safe in the arms of the man I love_ she thinks to herself, before realizing exactly what her thoughts have just referred to Rick as. _The man I love? Did I really just… I guess I did. Sure, I like him. Sure, I've fantasized about kissing him, and possibly even more. Sure, I'm in love with him… But… I'm in love with him. I, Kate Beckett, am in love with Richard Castle. _After several minutes, during which neither of them say anything, Rick finally pulls away from her. He sighs softly, before grinning at her. "This is a beautiful place".

She nods, seating herself carefully on the swinging chair once more, angling herself to rest her head on his shoulder as he sits down next to her. "We used to come up here all the time, just my parents and I. Every summer, my parents would take the next three months off of work, and we'd just… we'd just get out of the city, you know? No thoughts of work or school. There was never anything to stop us from enjoying ourselves for the summer. And now I'm up here and I feel so damn weak that I can't even enjoy myself" she says finally.

He sighs softly, subconsciously, gently slipping an arm around her waist to hold her in place. "For what it's worth, Kate, I'll always be here for you. I'll never, ever, leave you alone".

Ignoring the pain in her chest, she snuggles closer into his warm embrace. Eventually, she can't help but to speak. "You were right, you know. About what you said in my apartment that night".

"Kate…"

"Please, Rick, just let me finish. You need to hear this".

To her surprise, the use of his first name causes him to shut up immediately. She takes as deep a breath in as possible before continuing. "When you said that I've lived with my mother's murder for so long that I'm afraid to see who I am without it, and that I'm so afraid of getting hurt again that I hide myself in nowhere relationships with men I don't love. Will, Tom, even Josh… None of them were ever the right one for me. Sure I liked them, but I think deep inside I knew that those relationships were always going to be doomed to fail. They never felt… they just never felt right, you know?"

He nods. "Yeah, I do know. That's how I felt with Meredith. And Gina, for that matter. But not when I'm with you. I love you, Kate. I really do"

Despite her injuries, she lifts her head to his, brushing her lips across his own softly. He returns the gesture, arms supporting her easily as they kiss, and, as they part, she breathes the truest words she has ever spoken to him. "I remember everything from that day, Rick. And I have to tell you that I love you too. Because I do, I truly, honestly, do".

They lay there contently for about half an hour, simply enjoying the safety and warmth of each other's arms, before Rick finally speaks. "So, we're really going to do this? Really going to try a relationship?"

Kate smiles again as their eyes meet, her hazel to his blue, and nods. "We are indeed. And if our partnership for the past three years has been any indication, we're in for a lot of fun".

The writer nods in agreement, pressing one more chaste kiss to his new girlfriend's forehead and smiling in satisfaction. "I couldn't agree more".

And as the detective drifts into a peaceful sleep, she thinks about how lucky she is to be in the arms of the man that she loves, and how glad she is that she is never, ever, going to have to lie to herself about what she really wants out of life again. Because, now that both of them know how their partner feels about them, they are never, ever, going to be alone.

**Go ahead and Review.**

**Edit - My note about italics was pointless, and has been removed.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I was going to leave this as a one-shot, but I love the idea of it so much that I decided I couldn't do that (and the fact that you guys loved the first Chapter didn't hurt either, so thank you)**

**Kate's probably a little OOC in this chapter, but then again I figure she's just been shot in the chest, she's kind of vulnerable, and her walls aren't really up as much as they otherwise would be since Rick's there with her. Plus, it makes for a cuter story this way.**

_**Review responses:**_

_**Guest: I'd be delighted!**_

_**Moochiecat: I'm glad you think the story's lovely so far.**_

_**Maria: If I do, most of them will probably focus on the two of them at the cabin or possibly (depending how I feel) some of the early Season 4 episodes. I hope you enjoy this chapter too.**_

_**Caskett2000: Thanks! I'd love to know what you think about this Chapter too.**_

_**supershortstuff: Thank you. Good to know the italics are appreciated, definitely.**_

_**Guest: Doesn't really matter to be honest. It was just something one of the commenters on another of my stories said in their review.**_

_**Guest: No worries then, I'll keep using them. And how's this chapter for more?**_

_**patty cake rocks: As you wish!**_

_**Bianca: She was shot by a sniper at her Captain's funeral.**_

_**BurningxRedxCaskett: I agree, something like this would have been way more preferable to those events.**_

_**Caskettlover always41319: Aww, that really means a lot to me. Your review actually left me with tears in my eyes. Thank you so much!**_

**Disclaimer - If I owned Castle, Stana and Tamala would never have been fired, and Season 8 would not have been the extraordinarily disappointing season that it was (understatement of the year). Clearly, since it was, I don't own Castle.**

_**To one of the best friends I have ever had. Thanks for everything, Bianca. Happy Birthday.**_

* * *

She wakes in a cold sweat, damp brown hair hanging limply around her face. A strangled sob breaks free from her lips, and her voice is wobbly, almost tremulous, when she calls her boyfriend's name. "Castle!"

Immediately, the door to her room opens, and she can make out the figure of her partner in the doorway. Castle is wearing a pair of black sweatpants (and little else), and under any other circumstances she'd be staring at him, but the pain in her chest, as well as her nightmare, is keeping her distracted. "Another one?" he queries, his voice gentle.

She merely nods, and he walks over to her, wordlessly sinking onto the bed beside her and pulling her into his arms. She goes willingly, immediately burrowing her head into the crook of his neck, and, as his hands rub reassuring circles on her back, Kate feels the tears roll down her cheeks. They fall onto Castle's shoulders, though he simply wraps his arms around her in a slightly tighter fashion, turning his head slightly to press a light kiss to her forehead. "It's okay, Kate. I'm here, we both are. We're okay. I'm not going anywhere. I love you, there's nothing else to say about it".

Slowly her tears stop falling and her breathing evens out, until at last she feels calm enough to lift her head and give him a soft, though clearly grateful, kiss. "Thank you for being here, for comforting me with your presence. You have no idea how grateful I am" she whispers.

He smiles softly. "Of course, Kate. Always"

He moves to stand and leave, but pauses at the sound of his name coming from the brown-haired detective's lips. "Rick?"

He turns his head back to her, meeting her brown eyes with his blue ones. "What's wrong, Kate?"

"Just… Stay with me for the night? I don't know if I can take any more nightmares. Not tonight. Having you here… There's just something about your presence that just makes everything feel so much easier. And much less scary"

He nods gently at his girlfriend's request, and presses a feather-light kiss to his girlfriend's hair. "Of course, Kate"

He shifts so that he's lying on the bed beside her, and she closes her eyes, folding herself into his embrace almost instinctively. _She's never going to mention how much she's dreamed of being curled up in his arms like this (except under totally different circumstances). He'd never let her live it down._ Just as she's drifting off to sleep, she whispers "I love you too", and feels him murmur something in reply before she falls entirely asleep to the steady rise and fall of his chest.

**-Roughly seven hours later-**

The first thing she sees when she opens her eyes in the morning are her boyfriend's own blue eyes and the thoughtful expression on his face as he looks at her. Obviously, he's been watching her sleep. "Staring's still creepy, Rick" she says softly, but she can't keep the love she feels for the man next to her from sinking into every word she speaks, nor can she keep the warm smile from her face as she realizes that, for the first time since her shooting, she's had a completely nightmare-free sleep.

"I can't help it if my girlfriend just so happens to be an incredibly gorgeous, extraordinary, perfect detective. And just as much so when she's asleep as when she's awake" Rick replies in his defence, punctuating each adjective he uses with quick, tender, kisses to Kate's lips.

She laughs gently, raising herself on an elbow to press a tender kiss of her own to his lips. "My god, Rick. That was cheesy even for you. Still extremely sweet of you to say though"

"I meant every word"

He smiles, before meeting her lips with his own, and the two of them kiss tenderly for approximately thirty seconds before breaking apart as Kate's stomach growls loudly. The detective laughs. "I guess that means that we have to get up now"

"As much as I wish we could spend the entire day like this, I agree. We need to eat, after all. How do fruit and pancakes sound?" Rick replies, nodding in agreement.

Kate wrinkles her nose thoughtfully. "Under any other circumstances, pancakes would be good. I think I want something healthier today though. Maybe oatmeal with fruit? I know my dad brought some up with him when he was last here, there might still be some left".

"What about a drink? I remember you mentioning last night that you're not allowed coffee yet"

Kate frowns at the reminder that she's not allowed her favorite drink again for at least another month. "Unfortunately. There might be some fruit juice left in the fridge though, I could use a glass of that".

Her boyfriend smiles and nods, pressing a quick, soft, kiss to her lips before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up, helping her to her own feet as well. "Let's go see what we can find for breakfast then".

* * *

**I'll admit it, this was definitely one of my more favorite things to write.**

**The songs for this week are:**

**Run Away, by The Coors**

**I'm Yours, by Jason Mraz**

**Please leave a Review, I'd love to hear what you guys thought of this chapter!**


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